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The Ministry of Labour is investigating after stage lights fell on two men at the Beaches Rib Fest on Friday night.

The men were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries around 9 p.m., said Toronto police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook.

One man is in his 40s, the other is in his 50s, according to Douglas-Cook.

It is not known what caused the lights to fall.

Justin Brown, Rib Fest organizer and owner of the Northern Heat Rib Series, which brings BBQ food festivals to locations across southern Ontario, according to its website, said he believes they fell because of strong winds and rain.

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“The storm just came out of nowhere,” he said, adding the ministry has allowed the festival, which takes place at Woodbine Park, to continue on Saturday and Sunday.

“There is an ongoing investigation and we’ve taken every step possible to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Brown said.

At Rib Fest on Saturday afternoon, there was scant evidence of any accident that occurred the night before, save for a scatter of silver poles and lighting equipment on the north side of the stage.

Some feet away, a band called Girl*Pow-R, made up of girls between 10 and 15 years old, belted out pop rock songs to listeners lounging in white lawn chairs nearby.

Band organizer Dawn Van Dam said she checked the stage before the girls’ performance to make sure it was safe.

There didn’t appear to be any hazards.

Van Dam said she was “devastated” to hear of Friday night’s incident. One of the men, who she identified as sound engineer Steve Marsden, runs the performances at the Rib Fest series, she said.

She had met him many times since the series began in May. With several of the BBQ-centred events left in the series — there are 15 festival in total this year — she had expected to see him again and again.

“He’s a sweetheart,” she said, describing him as a “teddy bear” and the “nicest guy.”

Other Rib Fest participants had heard about the accident at the sprawling park. Sean Gibb, 16, who was watching as a group of muscled men tossed around large weights in a competition said “it was a little scary” to think stage equipment might not be stable.

“But we still wanted to come and check out the event.”

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